Monthly Archives: July 2012

Reality Gives is so happy to get great hard working volunteers on board from time to time. They always do a little bit more than expected!

Laura for example who was in Mumbai in June to research for a Mobile English Language Learning Programme did also a great job creating profiles on our YEP students. Rose who is currently with Reality Gives to monitor the Girls Football programme was also asking the girls about their ambitions and dreams.

The community centre was buzzing with activity last Saturday. We were excited to officially launch our health and nutrition program with the Foundation for Mother and Child Health. In addition, as part of our Youth Empowerment Program we are piloting a credit building program with partner InVenture which is aimed at helping our community members qualify for student and small business microfinance loans.

Saturday afternoon the school desks at the community centre were cleared away and replaced with weigh scales, measuring tools, and patient charts. FMCH staff saw almost 20 children over the next 3 hours, bringing us over a quarter of the way to our goal of 100 beneficiaries for the next 3 months. “It looks like we will have to raise our target,” Summer, Reality Gives Executive Director said. “And make sure that these children keep coming back,” responded Piya Mukherjee, FMCH Executive Director.

Reality Gives just recently connected to another great organisation operating in Dharavi: Barefoot Acupuncturists. The system is as simple as effective: Acupuncture experts from India and abroad provide high-quality treatment to the underprivileged community of Dharavi. The professional therapy that is known to treat diseases where the conventional western medicine is limited, costs just Rs 20 or less for the slum dwellers.

The non-profit organisation is funded by donor patients in India and abroad. Barefoot Acupuncturists opened another clinic in Bandra East where patients from a higher level of prosperity can come for a world class treatment. For a minimum charge of Rs500 the supporters can heal their body as well as prevent diseases and in the same time they support the medical treatment of other less fortunate patients from Dharavi.

Every Wednesday and Sunday evening around 45 boys come together on the muddy ground at Shivaji Park to play a game that isn’t often seen in India – Australian Rules Football. But it’s not just the rules that are special – the game brings young people from different communities together.

Australian national Lincoln Harris has teamed up with us to offer a twice weekly opportunity for kids to learn a new sport and get away from Dharavi for a couple hours. For residents of Dharavi it’s a way to break the isolation they experience by connecting with people from a wide range of social and economic backgrounds.

Thursday was a bittersweet day for Reality Gives. It marked our graduation from the Atma partnership, which shows the immense amount of progress and growth we have made in the past few years, but also means that we will no longer be meeting with the team at Atma on a weekly basis.

Atma works to address the issue of quality education for underprivileged children and young adults through a unique consultancy model. They have supported the development of Reality Gives from a mere concept to the thriving and dynamic organisation it is today. A couple of major examples of Atma’s help include their critical role in the development of the Youth Empowerment Program and their facilitation of the connection to Muktangan whose child-centred approach to learning was the foundation for our
kindergarten, now English Language Support Program.